ORANGE – Its defense has given opponents fits since the start of the season, but offensively, Orange Lutheran’s girls basketball team is still searching for a level of consistency that will make the Lancers more dangerous in the playoffs.
On Tuesday night, active hands on defense led to a number of easy buckets early on, propelling the fifth-ranked Lancers past Rosary, 51-32, in a Trinity League game at Orange Lutheran.
With 10 players scoring for the Lancers (18-5, 4-1), they were able to remain one game back of Mater Dei in the standings. The Lancers travel to meet the top-ranked Monarchs on Monday.
“We did what we needed to do and it was an overall solid game,” Lancers coach Tom Howard said. “I knew we were going to have to score more points than we did last time against them. Rosary missed a lot of shots against us in that first game, and we knew they weren’t going to do that again.”
The Royals (15-7, 2-4) struggled to get any shots up early, turning the ball over seven times in the first eight minutes of the game. Orange Lutheran cashed in on the miscues and scored 10 points off Rosary giveaways in the first quarter.
An 8-1 run to end the second quarter put the Lancers up, 28-14, at the half.
Gloria Bates was the only Orange Lutheran player to finish in double figures, scoring 10 points.
Rosary’s Nikki Miller (14) and Camille Lira (12) were the game’s leading scorers, but the Royals received just six points from the rest of their roster.
Turning the ball over eight times in the third quarter, Rosary was down by 22 at the start of the fourth.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
